Ben Starr, the recently out Dallas cheftestant on Fox’s ‘MasterChef,’ camps it up on Gordon Ramsay’s cooking competition series

When Lewisville-based travel writer Ben Starr auditioned for Fox’s MasterChef, he doubted they’d be interested in his style of home cooking. But not only did he make the cut, he’s been one of the more memorable cheftestants — just this week, he had the judge’s favorite dish.

The series is only halfway through, but for Starr, it’s already made a huge difference in his life: It forced him to come out to his parents just last month. We talked to him about the experience and his favorite meals.

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You’ve been struggling since you wowed the judges at your audition. The audition kinda set me up to expect that I would do well in the competition, but we spun pretty quickly into an emphasis on gourmet cuisine, which is not my thing at all. My street tacos were a little bit spiffy, and I am extremely well traveled, but I tend to eat peasant food even when I travel. I was seeing all these people around me making restaurant quality cuisine and trying to compete on their level. Nice to make a good ol’ catfish in a skillet.

What was the hardest challenge for you? The biggest challenge has definitely been psychological. I’m competitive by nature and I want to feel like I’m competition, but I was surrounded by chefs that were a little more connected to the Food Network that I am. They’d use words like umami [a Japanese word for a savory flavor] and I had to go look it up. There was a common lexicon among the contestants about what these famous chefs I’ve never heard of are doing in their restaurants. I felt like an idiot stumbling around in the dark. That started to leak into my cooking and I began to question, “Is this sophisticated enough? Is this even sophisticated?” The episode this week was a turning point. I felt like for the first time I’m back in my own element.

You certainly have made an impression with your outfits. I don’t wear those hats at home, though I do wear an apron, just for practicality. But [the show] has started this storytelling legacy — people expect me to wear them when they come over. My mom made me the pumpkin hat and apron. Actually, she made me five or six pairs to wear. That’s why you always see a different one on me each episode. I was going through them.

Was wearing them part of a conscious effort to stand during the auditions? I am fairly myself, though I had to set myself apart that wasn’t just about food. I needed to be someone [the judges] remember when they go home at night. That’s why I talked about my rural upbringing, because I thought it would generate a memory.

Had you watched the show before? Did you know what to expect? I don’t watch much TV, but this is not my first time being on TV, which is ironic because I abhor reality television —it brings out the worst in our culture. But I did Rachael Ray’s So You Think You Can Cook in 2007. The audience there was much more caring and nurturing than the machine on MasterChef, but I was a little bit prepared for the frank judgment.

I did not watch the first season of MasterChef, but my friend Karen Rutherford said, “I’ll never speak to you again if you don’t audition [for season 2].” So I watched them all on Hulu. I just sweated my way through them. I knew how intense and stressful it is to cook on TV, and saw how brutal Joe Bastianich and Gordon Ramsay were with the contestants. I thought: Screw this. Then a few weeks passed and the terror faded [and I went through the lengthy audition process]. It was a lot of work — the most difficult full-time job I’ve ever had that doesn’t pay.

What’s your favorite kind of cuisine? While my DNA wants to say Mexican food — I had it in the womb six times a week — I am most intrigued by Thai food. It is so complex, yet so much of it is cooked on the street in a tiny little cart. From the richest to the poorest, everybody eats on the street.

How about a favorite meal? One of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had was in Egypt on New Year’s Eve in 2001. I spent it on Mount Sinai and hiked eight miles back down to the car for the drive back to our resort. [The driver] fell asleep at the wheel and we plummeted into a canyon. Eventually a camel train of Bedouins came by the bottom of this canyon. They took us onto the camels and rode four or five miles to their camp. All the women came out, killed a goat and started cooking while the men tried to pull our car out of the canyon.

It was a humble meal — just a goat stew and some flat bread — but the flavors were really intense and felt they came right out of the desert. I could not even communicate with these people who live in abject poverty, but still they were willing to kill one of their last goats and throw a big feast for us because it’s in their nature to be hospitable. I realized it was important to me to use food to nurture people in my life — I could never be a chef and be in the back. I need to be with the people. My partner is one of the main reasons I cook — we’ve been together eight years and I want to marry him one day.

Did you plan to be “the gay guy” on the show? When I was on [Rachael Ray] it was not addressed and I didn’t talk about it openly. At that point my family didn’t know I was gay — in fact, I didn’t come out to my parents until about five weeks ago. They were totally shell-shocked — they didn’t have a clue.

Maybe mom should have guessed since she made you all those hats. Ha! Maybe.

Couple Enrique MacGregor and Mark Niermann are back to Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving

ON FOOT | MacGregor and Niermann call the Trot a family tradition. (Arnold Wayne Jones/Dallas Voice)

While most of us will limit our exercise on Thanksgiving Day to waddling from the dining room into the living room to watch the Cowboys lose, Mark Niermann and Enrique McGregor will do the unthinkable: Run eight miles in the early hours of a holiday known for getting people fat, not thin.

Clearly, they don’t understand the occasion. But they are not alone: 40,000 North Texans turn out for one Thursday each year to support the Turkey Trot, now in its 43rd year.

It’s not as insane as it sounds, although both MacGregor and Niermann — who have been together for 14 years — do concede that traditionally, it’s cold in late November. But it’s also worth it.

“For the Turkey Trot, it’s more about having fun — it’s not a competitive race. It’s about thousands of people getting together on a festive occasion,” says MacGregor. “It’s a thrill — entire families will dress as turkey leg dads and cranberry kids and run together.”

Wait a minute: Exercise that comes with costumes? How come more gays don’t do this? Half could recycle their loincloths from Halloween and go as Native Americans.

But of course, many gays do participate — often with their families.

“We started seven or eight years ago when Enrique’s family started coming here for Thanksgiving,” says Niermann. “Thanksgiving is all about being together and having fun. I think it’s a great day to have the run.”

“It’s something to get people out of the house and get some fresh air,” adds MacGregor. “And Mark is trying to beat my nephew this year.”

While this couple always tackles the longer 8-mile course, there is also a 5K course for those less accustomed to jogging — though even that’s not a hard-and-fast rule.

“I think a lot of the people running the eight miles are not serious runners but the once-a-year kind who say, what’s the harm?” says MacGregor. Some even jog part of the way, they walk the rest — although he admits neither he nor Niermann do that. Both are in a more elite group of serious-minded athletes. Two years ago, they ran the White Rock Marathon together, and they routinely exercise by running several courses through their neighborhood.

Niermann notes, however, that they have both been traveling a lot lately and may find this race more challenging than in part years — though nothing like the marathon.

Sharing an affinity for athletics is nothing new to them — it actually kicked off their relationship.

“We met swimming,” says MacGregor. “The first time I ever said him was underwater at a public pool in Denver. Everything looks bigger underwater! He was in the next lane over. I turned and saw this little vision in a blue Speedo … and Mark was right behind that!”
Niermann laughs.

The Turkey Trot isn’t their only charitable venture. Niermann and MacGregor are co-founders of the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Dallas, which just celebrated it 10-year anniversary. That group started as a way to raise money to build the Latino Cultural Center, but has since increased its scope, donating more than $1 million for education, artistic and medical enterprises across the city.

The Trot, though, is more about tradition than fundraising for them.

“We always have a big dinner — this year about 40 people are coming,” says Niermann. “It’s really a reunion for Enrique’s family — they come from Maryland, Mexico, San Diego.”

“We also have a golf tournament the day after and hold a creative contest of some kind,” says MacGregor.

“And we have a contest for best sweet potato recipe, which I always win,” says Niermann.

The Trot takes place early enough that, aside from waking up early, it leaves plenty of time for the rest of the day to finish cooking, watch the Macy’s parade and football on TV. But the Trot remains a highlight.

“Even if you’re not a runner or a walker, the spectacle of seeing 40,000 people is an amazing experience,” says MacGregor. “Everyone can participate.”